Senators hand reins to Bartolo

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Jenna Bartolo considers herself a pretty fast learner, so the fact that she never played a day of field hockey in her life didn't faze her in the least when she was named head coach at Brien McMahon a couple weeks ago.

"I've been around," said Bartolo, who takes over for Bobbi Kijek after two years as an assistant with the highly successful program at McMahon. "I've played just about everything else."

The 24-year-old Bartolo, a 2002 graduate of Norwalk High School, grew up on a soccer field, and was the goalie on the freshman team at Norwalk in 1998. She played basketball at Norwalk High for two years, and was a member of the 1999-2000 team that went 26-0 and captured the Class LL state title. Bartolo was also a four-year softball player under Hall of Fame coach Ray Barry, and a three-year starter on the volleyball team, serving as the team's captain as a senior.

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Bartolo even helps George Foster run his private baseball academy, running clinics in lower Fairfield County and Westchester.

A sports resume like that makes McMahon Athletic Director Joe Madaffari pretty confident he has the right person to succeed Kijek, who moved to California following two successful seasons with the Senators.

Bartolo was also the junior varsity coach and varsity assistant last season, during which McMahon went 13-4 overall with appearances in the FCIAC and Class L state semifinals. Bartolo, who will be a student teacher in Darien this fall as she finishes her education at Southern Connecticut State University, was also a freshman coach at McMahon in 2006.

"I think she's going to be an asset to the program," Madaffari said. "She's known all the girls for a while and she'll be a teacher this year. The main thing is we want to keep the field hockey program as successful as it has been, not so much in terms of wins and losses, but keeping the girls enjoying what they're doing and sending them on to play in college."

Coaching is all Bartolo ever wanted to do. She knew that as soon as she graduated from high school, enrolling in classes at Norwalk Community College to earn her coaching certificate.

Within one year, Bartolo had secured a coaching job at Trinity Catholic of Stamford as an assistant of the softball team. Bartolo did that for two years then transferred to Southern to pursue a degree as a physical education teacher.

"I know a lot of sports, so that helps with my coaching," Bartolo said. "But being a physical education teacher has given me the chance to learn so many other sports I never would have had the opportunity to play."

Bartolo was contacted by Kijek and a few of the McMahon players she knew when the Senators were in need of an assistant two years ago. Bartolo didn't know the game at first, but after attending a couple of summer camps run by Kijek, it was almost as if Bartolo had been playing the game her entire life.

"I picked it up pretty quickly," Bartolo said. "Now I love it."

Now Bartolo is preparing to embark on her first season as a head coach, something she's been dreaming about for years.

"I can't wait. I'm very excited," she said. "This is what I want in life. I would do this even if I didn't get paid. I just want to be out there."

"I feel great about our team. We have some differences this year with the players, but we have some great athletes who work really hard," Bartolo said. "The young players had some great players to learn from. We carried a bunch of extra players on the varsity team last year. We wanted to give them playing time because we knew this switch was coming."

One thing Bartolo hopes will not stop is McMahon's strong track record of sending players on to the next level. Four players from last year's team will be playing in college this fall.

"I've already given a few girls some great opportunities to attend showcases," Bartolo said. "A couple girls are already showing interest in playing on the next level, so we're looking to get their names out there so they have a chance to play at a good Division I or Division II school."